City profile · Rhode Island · Census ACS 2023

Foster Center, RI

Foster Center's Census ACS profile: residents, income, housing, and the joined public-record layers available for this place.

328
Residents
$56,027
Median income
$450,000
Median home
$1,729
Median rent (state)
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Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.

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Starting with Foster Center, RI - add up to three more cities on the compare page.

See how it ranks

State rank, size-class rank, and four peer cities for Foster Center.

Place dossier plate

Sheet RI-FOSTER-CENTER-RI · Foster Center, RI 328 pop · income 29th pct

POP-VILLAGE · INC-MID · COL-PAR · SAFE-UNK · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · HOME-HIGH · BOOK-UNK

  • POP-VILLAGE 328
  • INC-MID $56,027
  • COL-PAR 102.3
  • SAFE-UNK Safety pending
  • RANK-LOWER 29th
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Stirling
  • HOME-HIGH $450,000
  • BOOK-UNK Tracts pending

Nearest income peer: Stirling, CA ( $1 income $)

Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.

Income neighbourhood around Foster Center

Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Foster Center on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.

median HH income

What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.

Source U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 5-Year Estimates As of 2026-08-08

Compare beyond this state

Nationwide peers by population, income

Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Foster Center on ACS population and median household income . Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.

Similar population

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 328.

4 peers

Similar household income

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS median household income. This city: $56,027. Population peers are excluded.

4 peers

Foster Center - the verdict

Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Foster Center lands in the 29th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.

29th
percentile, household income
81st
percentile, home value
86th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this

Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.

Data Snapshot: Foster Center, RI

Census ACS 2023 estimates count 328 residents in Foster Center, a small town within Rhode Island. Households in Foster Center report a median income of $56,027 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Foster Center are valued around $450,000, and the median resident age is 45.2 years. Educational attainment runs 17.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 46.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.

Rhode Island tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Rhode Island scores 102.3 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,729 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Rhode Island's average monthly utility costs around $318 (state average). The average commute for Foster Center workers runs 45.8 minutes, with 91.7% driving alone and 8.3% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 56.6 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).

A decision-led reading path

Useful questions to ask of Foster Center's data

How this reading path is ordered

This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.

For Foster Center, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares. No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.

1. Comparison shortlist

Which cities make useful reference points for Foster Center?

Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.

Within Rhode Island, the closest population matches are Wyoming (351 residents); Misquamicut (355 residents, $105,250 income); Hopkinton (402 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Shorter, AL (328 residents); Clarksburg, CA (328 residents); Dewey Beach, DE (328 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.

Open a side-by-side comparison →

Question 2

What does the journey to work look like in Foster Center?

Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 91.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 45.8 minutes.

Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.

Compare commute patterns →

3. Housing and income

How far does income reach against housing in Foster Center?

This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.

The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 8.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.

Compare the housing trade-off →

Population

328 residents

Micro place (under 10k)

Median Household Income

$56,027 /yr

Below median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)

Cost of Living Index (state)

102.3 (US=100)

Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Rhode Island average

City profile score · Foster Center, RI

46/100

4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023

Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians (income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out and redistribute weight. How it is calculated.

Poverty rate A+
0.0%

Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.

Cost of living F
102.3 index

BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.

Household income F
$56,027

Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.

Bachelor's+ share F
17.1%

Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.

Violent crime N/A
N/A

No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).

Foster Center profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions) 4-axis radar comparing 1 series across Poverty rate, Cost of living, Household income, Bachelor's+ share. Poverty rateCost of livingHousehold incomeBachelor's+ share 46 D
Foster Center profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)
Read the chart values
  • Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
  • Cost of living: 30/100 (F) · 102.3 index
  • Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,027
  • Bachelor's+ share: 26/100 (F) · 17.1%

How does Foster Center compare to other US cities?

Here's how Foster Center stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.

Household income 29% higher than other cities
Home value 81% pricier than other cities
Median rent 86% pricier than other cities

"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.

How we calculate these percentiles & ranks

Each percentile compares Foster Center against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Rhode Island only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.

Rhode Island-relative analysis

Median Gross Rent places Foster Center near the bottom of Rhode Island's cities

Among the 36 Rhode Island cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Foster Center ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Foster Center only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.

Median Household Income
#32 of 33
3rd percentile in Rhode Island
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 36
0th percentile in Rhode Island
Median Home Value
#11 of 35
69th percentile in Rhode Island
Poverty Rate
#26 of 36
0th percentile in Rhode Island
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#34 of 36
6th percentile in Rhode Island
How in-state ranks are ordered

Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Rhode Island only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.

29thIncome percentile
Gauge source note

29th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.

How Foster Center's home value compares nationally

Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)

$450,000 19th percentile more affordable than 19% of 15,600 US cities

Show national distribution $0–$25,000: 5 US cities (0%). Below this entry. $25,000–$50,000: 54 US cities (0%). Below this entry. $50,000–$75,000: 352 US cities (2%). Below this entry. $75,000–$100,000: 1,086 US cities (7%). Below this entry. $100,000–$125,000: 1,516 US cities (10%). Below this entry. $125,000–$150,000: 1,170 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $150,000–$175,000: 1,278 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $175,000–$200,000: 1,229 US cities (8%). Below this entry. $200,000–$225,000: 1,035 US cities (7%). Below this entry. $225,000–$250,000: 976 US cities (6%). Below this entry. $250,000–$275,000: 754 US cities (5%). Below this entry. $275,000–$300,000: 712 US cities (5%). Below this entry. $300,000–$325,000: 521 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $325,000–$350,000: 526 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $350,000–$375,000: 465 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $375,000–$400,000: 393 US cities (3%). Below this entry. $400,000–$425,000: 317 US cities (2%). Below this entry. $425,000–$450,000: 300 US cities (2%). Below this entry. $450,000–$475,000: 307 US cities (2%). This entry sits in this band. $475,000–$500,000: 250 US cities (2%). Above this entry. $500,000–$525,000: 160 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $525,000–$550,000: 156 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $550,000–$575,000: 172 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $575,000–$600,000: 172 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $600,000–$625,000: 163 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $625,000–$650,000: 167 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $650,000–$675,000: 135 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $675,000–$700,000: 101 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $700,000–$725,000: 95 US cities (1%). Above this entry. $725,000–$750,000: 71 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $750,000–$775,000: 65 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $775,000–$800,000: 70 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $800,000–$825,000: 57 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $825,000–$850,000: 67 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $850,000–$875,000: 60 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $875,000–$900,000: 58 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $900,000–$925,000: 47 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $925,000–$950,000: 37 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $950,000–$975,000: 31 US cities (0%). Above this entry. $975,000–$1,000,000: 470 US cities (3%). Above this entry. $1,000,000–$1,025,000: 0 US cities (0%). Above this entry. Foster Center $0 $1,025,000 every US city, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023

Foster Center's home-value-to-income ratio: 8.0×

ACS median home value divided by median household income.

Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,054 of 15,516
More affordable than 3% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,050 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)

At 8.0×, Foster Center sits in the pressured band: national rank #15,054 of 15,516 and #11,050 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000). Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.

How this ratio is calculated

Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000. Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0). This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.

Income distribution context

$56,027 Foster Center, RI median household income (Census ACS)

Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Household income distribution - Foster Center, RI Foster Center, RI's median household income ($56,027) against the U.S. national quintile-share pattern. The Lorenz curve and quintile bars are national context, not Foster Center, RI-specific shares. $ Household Income Distribution Foster Center, RI median $56,027/yr, vs. U.S. national quintile pattern QUINTILE SHARE OF AGGREGATE INCOME Lowest 20% 3.4% Second 20% 9.2% Middle 20% 15.1% Fourth 20% 23.2% Top 20% 49.1% LORENZ CURVE cumulative income vs. population 100% 0% 100% pop. 0%
Foster Center, RI median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Foster Center, RI.

Key socioeconomic indicators

Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+) 17.1%

Census ACS S1501, educational attainment

Poverty rate (households below FPL) 0.0%

Census ACS S1701, poverty status

Labor force participation (adults 16+) 46.9%

Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force

Population
328
Median Income
$56,027
Median Home Value
$450,000
Median Age
45.2
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
46.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.1%

Commute Patterns

Commute source

How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023

Average Commute Time
45.8 minutes
Drive Alone
91.7%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
8.3%

Based on 121 workers 16 and over.

Monthly Utility Costs

Rhode Island statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $318

EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Rhode Island at $318 (electricity about $155 , water and sewer about $58 ).

These are Rhode Island statewide averages, not a meter reading for Foster Center. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.

Living Costs & Risk

Rhode Island's BEA cost-of-living index is 102.3 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Foster Center is $1,729/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Rhode Island statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 56.6 / 100 (Moderate).

Cost/risk geography note

Cost of living is a Rhode Island statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Foster Center sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.

How Foster Center compares to similar-size Rhode Island cities

Same-state peer method

Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.

City Population Median Household Income
Foster Center (this city) 328 $56,027
Wyoming 351 N/A
Misquamicut 355 $105,250
Hopkinton 402 N/A
Primary sources on this page

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Citation & verification links Data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCities

Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES. Joins use OMB Bulletin 23-01 / FIPS keys.

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Estimate caveats

ACS and UCR figures are citywide estimates with vintage lags; they do not replace a local visit, school visit, or insurance quote.

Editorial standards, provenance, and how to cite this page

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

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